Trade unions in Glasgow have called on councillors not to implements cuts as the city faces a shortfall of tens of millions of pounds in its budget this week.

The council is required in law to pass a balanced budget and councillors meet on Thursday to hear plans and decide the budget.

Last year the council received figures that showed a spending gap for 2020/21 would be £51.4 million.

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A revised spending gap of £44.2 million was later circulated incorporating £4.8 million of savings options already approved.

In a joint statement, Unison, Unite, EIS and GMB unions said the latest cuts come on top of around £400m in the last ten years.

It states: “This cannot go on. The people of Glasgow, the services which they rely on and the workers who provide them are not to blame for the austerity politics of successive national governments or the decisions of previous Glasgow administrations to continuously defend gender pay inequality.”

The unions recognised that a new pay and grading policy to replace the old system, which led to the equal pay settlement which will cost the council hundreds of millions of pounds to finance, needs to be implemented.

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However, they said there is an anti-austerity mandate in the city and it should be used to ensure there are no more cuts.

Instead they suggest more use of borrowing powers, refinancing of PFI/PPP deals, using reserves and the Scottish Government using its tax raising powers more progressively to find cash to avoid cuts to services.

The unions added: “This would not be a panacea but a tactic to protect services whilst fighting for more money and revenue raising powers.”

The trade unions also believe that the current Scottish local government funding arrangements disadvantage Glasgow.

They added: “The multi-faceted impacts on council services of higher levels of poverty and the city status of Glasgow are not sufficiently recognised at present. We call on Glasgow’s councillors to resist cuts rather than implement them.”